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+ DRIES VAN NOTEN +

Parker

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DRRRIES VAN NOTEN​

Romance. Art. Travel. History. Gardening.

This is the place to appreciate the work of Belgian designer Dries Van Noten.
A lot has been written about Dries elsewhere on the web, but now we can use this
small space to discuss his clothing and ideas, share images and ask questions.



It’s very much human nature to seek and embrace
that which we feel to be intimate and in which we feel
our values and emotions are reflected.

- DvN

 
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Parker

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QUICK FACTS
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• one of the Antwerp Six
• most known for skillful print and color mixing
• Barneys bought his first 1986 menswear collection but sold it as womenswear
• self-financed, still independent
• produces 1,200 designs for women and 800 for men each year — double the majority of his competitors
• doesn't advertise, instead stages bold runway shows and produces cool invitations
• drives a lawnmower

BIOGRAPHY
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“I don’t want to be a big player,” Dries Van Noten insisted in 2006. Yet he had, in fact, already become one. Rising to prominence in the 1980s, he all but created the mold for the commercially successful independent designer.

Van Noten was one of the Antwerp Six who traveled to London and made a splash in the mid-1980s. In 1985 he established his own label and opened his first boutique in the Belgian fashion capital, and in 1993 he brought his debut women’s collection to Paris. “I was doing something different than other designers,” he explained in 2000. “I showed delicate, fine dresses with rose prints and a rather Indian influence.”

Fabric is usually Van Noten’s starting point, along with a certain trademark exoticism—anything “that reroutes us from the ordinary,” to use his words. “I’m known for color and prints and embroideries,” he told Vogue in 2007. “Normally the more clashing it is, the more that I like it!”

The humble yet resourceful Belgian’s career followed a steadily onward-and-upward trajectory before he paused for breath around 2000. Having fallen out of step with the prevailing trend-winds of the time (90s minimalism), he felt constrained by the regional and historical influences with which he had always been so strongly identified. “If I didn’t make a clear break to something else,” he later said, “I would’ve found myself stuck with the label ethnic and Belgian, and not in the positive sense.” His new organizing principle? Modern art. This directional sea change was reflected in the newfound confidence of his work—and in his evident enjoyment of it. His refreshed aesthetic remained constant for the next decade. In 2005, he marked his twentieth year in the business, and in 2008 he received the CFDA’s prestigious International Award.

Van Noten has had a strong influence on younger designers, and he’s also mentored many. Tim Van Steenbergen, one protégé, lauded him like this: “Dries has his romantic view, and dares to show himself very sensitive. Not many desginers have that courage — to be romantic."

INSPIRATIONS EXHIBIT
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Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
Exhibition Slideshow
Telegraph Article
Dries interview

INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES
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Wall Street Journal - The Insider's Outsider
Elle magazine - The Rapture
Russh Magazine - Designer Profile
Video interview with Garance Doré
Interview Magazine 2012
Mono.Kultur - A World In Season


WOMEN S/S 2013

1996-2014 COLLECTIONS - MEN & WOMEN
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Recent Collections (Vogue UK)
All Collections (FirstView)

SELECT RUNWAY VIDEOS
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Men A/W 2014-2015
Men S/S 2014
Men A/W 2013-2014
Men S/S 2013
Men S/S 2012
Men A/W 2011-2012
Men S/S 2011
Men S/S 2010
Men A/W 2009
Men S/S 2009
Men A/W 2008-2009
Men A/W 2006-2007
- - -
Women A/W 2013-2014
Women S/S 2012
Women S/S 2011
Women A/W 2010-2011
Women S/S 2005

MORE INFO
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driesvannoten.be




ABOVE: MEN A/W 2014-2015 / BELOW: WOMEN S/S 2012
 
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sipang

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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh




Thank you.
 

pickpackpockpuck

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Very nice, Parker. Your work is much appreciated. I'll try to post up a recent video tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm kinda obsessed with both his men's and women's this fall. It's all so good.
 

Parker

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^ me too, T :)

I've been aware of Dries womenswear since the 90s and 00s (reading W and Vogue at work :), but only got into his menswear in the past few years. I'm not really an authority or anything. I just love his design approach and thought there were enough fans on SF to have a dedicated thread. One of the things I like most about Dries is that every collection seems really personal and emotional, like he really put his heart into it -- a much different feeling than more mass/commercial designers. And maybe because I'm closer to his generation, I also really enjoy his reference points.

Thanks pickpock, I do think that his more recent collections are awesome and Dries is just getting better and better with age. The newest 2014-15 women's collection is stunning at first glance. I want to go back at look at it again.
 
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el Bert

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Now you have another reason to go Paris...

1000
 

the shah

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I love this SS97 shot

17e0764e4615ce9f826984b9c9cf7838_h.jpg


 
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the shah

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KingJulien

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I have a handful of Dries that I've picked up over the past two or three years. I'm usually really impressed by his fabrics; I will try to take some pictures when I get a chance.

That photo above looks like it could be from a 2014 collection.
 

Parker

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^ I know, me too. So conservative: navy chinos and plain dress shirts over crewneck tees (SF faux pas)! But also an elegant scarf or blazer.

A little ironic since he often creates such intricate and off-beat pieces that he himself would probably never wear. But I don't really see the disconnect. His clothes are his artform. And he makes them for people who love to wear them.

 
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